Essay Sample on Coordinated School Health Program

A coordinated school health program refers to the framework set for the management of the new and existing health-related activities and services especially those around the school environments. Therefore the coordinated program in the discussion revolves the CDC's Division of Adolescents case. The Division selected Gibson County Special School District in the western part of Tennessee among the six districts with a captivating school health program. The Gibson County students explored health concepts and developed various skills that dealt with the same issue (health). The skills and concepts developed got in line with the Michigan model which owns a detailed school health program that gets implemented today by nearly 30 U.S states and other foreign nations in the world. The school has a health program which enhances health education curriculum with an example being drawn from the school nurses who educate the 5th and 6th-grade learners on matters pertaining the changes that take place during the period of puberty.

The article also presents about the Tennessee National Guard Counterdrug Taskforce which foresees a fourteen-week life skill program to minimize the usage of drugs and alcoholic drinks within the school environments. There also exists another youth development program which ensures the provision of the development program that helps in training middle school students' on avoiding risky behaviors which may be dangerous to their lives. The programs are also many to the extent that schools within Gibson County host a health fair that draws students from different walks to partake of the activities. There are activities on positive dietary especially in the cafeteria, for example, the nutrition newsletters which guides students on their eating behaviors. The process also gets guided by a dietitian whose role revolves working with school teams in developing organized nutrition plans for the students and staff members.

The county has also ensured that the schools have vision, hearing, and body mass screenings with the primary aim being based on maintenance of healthy living standards. Equally notable, the article informs of the existence of the school counselors with the main purpose getting drawn on suicide interventions mechanisms to both the students and the staff. The program assists in the role of parenting since the learners are well taken care of and equipped with further training to mitigate cases of bullying within their environments. Therefore, with the existence of partnership from the members of the community, Gibson County officials made specific improvements to the coordinated school health programs to ensure that the learners were based on an environment free from any health threats or risks. The county also owns a coordinated school health website where the faculty members can get the chance of accessing the nutrition facts sheets, education on matters relating to obesity among other significant information. Lastly, it also gets argued that the school owns a fitness center where faculty members can freely access fitness lessons. The learners are also not left out and are allowed to access the service although on certain intervals based on their huge number.

In consideration of the eight components of the health-related programs, it is arguable that the article dug deeper into the various issues required in health implementations. In the review of the strengths, the article tackled efficiently matters pertaining health and physical education, counseling and psychological concerns. On health information, it looked at how students are exposed to health risks and the steps taken by Gibson County to ensure that the schools within the region are safe. For example, the county employed nurses whose role revolved teaching the 5th and 6th-grade learners on the changes they underwent during puberty. The mentioned to some extent related to physical education, but much of the concern was put on the health aspect. On the physical education, the county majored on students participating in the walk programs which helped them in keeping fit. There also existed the fitness centers as had been highlighted in the summary section for both the faculty members and the students.

Lastly, on counseling and psychological services, Gibson County employed nurses who gave counseling services to the students and faculty members to prevent issues of suicide among others. The last strength was on nutrition where the article mentioned dietary measures like nutrition newsletters which were distributed to students and faculty members. On the part of the weaknesses, the article failed to discuss the involvement of family and community members comprehensively. I am of the opinion that it ought to have elaborated the coordination and integration of activities undertaken by community members and the school to ensure that their coordinated school health programs are efficiently administered. The issue of staff or faculty members' wellness was also not covered adequately since the article focused more on the students. Even with the opinion of the existence of certain weaknesses, I still conquer that the article on Gibson County made a significant milestone in not only covering one component of the coordinated school health programs but also discussed at least four of them as drawn on the strengths.

In consideration at how the issue of health and physical education got handled, it is clear that the County had well laid down procedures with the primary objective of impacting the schools within the region positively. There was also the mentioning of the health fairs where students got drawn from all corners of the region to unite and interact while sharing on how to live in a free and safe environment. The article went ahead to cover the issue of physical education from two perspectives. The first one involved the twelve minutes' walk every day to ensure that every person acquired physical fitness. The method took into consideration that even those individuals who could not access fitness centers got guaranteed an opportunity where they could do exercise and become fit. The second dimension got based on the fitness centers for both the staff or faculty members and the students. The staff had full-time access while the students were to enter into groups due to their large number. Therefore, based on the points discussed, the article comes out as one which competently covered the information on the coordinated school health-based programs despite the few areas highlighted. There exists a likelihood that the students and staff members of Gibson County are healthy and physically fit considering the measures put in place by the county office and other health-related bodies within the region. Finally, the question created as a result of reading the article gets founded on the mechanisms which may be put to use to ensure that the eight components of coordinated school health-related programs are realized.